Paper size

For sizing as the ingredient used in papermaking, see Sizing § Papermaking.

Paper sizes A0 to A8, life-size installation "The invasion of the square root" at the CosmoCaixa Barcelona science museum

A size chart illustrating the ISO A series and a comparison with American letter and legal formats.

Comparison of some paper and photographic paper sizes close to the A4 size.

Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.

The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. It is used everywhere except in North America and parts of Latin America, where North American paper sizes such as "Letter" and "Legal" are used. The international standard for envelopes is the C series of ISO 269.

International paper sizes

Map of the world showing adoption of ISO A4 (blue) vs. US-Letter (red)

Main article: ISO 216

See Switching costs, Network effects and Standardization for possible reasons for differing regional adoption rates of the ISO standard sizes.

The international paper size standard is ISO 216. It is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of the square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142. There are different series, as well as several extensions.

The following international paper sizes are included in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): A3, A4, A5, B4, B5.

A series

A size chart illustrating the ISO A series.

The aspect ratio of A format is, let a be the long side and b be the short side:

${\frac {a}{b}}={\sqrt {2}}=1.41...$

In fact, the original definition of the ISO base size of paper "A0" is defined as having an area of 1 m² and a dimension ratio of 1 to √2, making the A0 paper size exactly ${\sqrt[{4}]{2}}$ m × ${\frac {1}{\sqrt[{4}]{2}}}$ m.

Rounded to the nearest millimetre, A0 is the format 841 by 1,189 millimetres (33.1 in × 46.8 in).

Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size across the larger dimension. This also effectively halves the area of each sheet. The most frequently used paper size is A4 measuring 210 by 297 millimetres (8.3 in × 11.7 in).

The significant advantage of this system is its scaling: if a sheet with an aspect ratio of √2 is divided into two equal halves parallel to its shortest sides, then the halves will again have an aspect ratio of √2. Folded brochures of any size can be made by using sheets of the next larger size, e.g. A4 sheets are folded to make A5 brochures. The system allows scaling without compromising the aspect ratio from one size to another—as provided by office photocopiers, e.g. enlarging A4 to A3 or reducing A3 to A4. Similarly, two sheets of A4 can be scaled down and fit exactly on one sheet without any cutoff or margins.

The behavior of the aspect ratio is easily proven: on a sheet of paper, let a be the long side and b be the short side:

${\frac {a}{b}}={\frac {b}{\frac {a}{2}}}={\frac {2b}{a}}$

by rearranging the terms, we get:

${\frac {a^{2}}{b^{2}}}=2$

${\frac {a}{b}}={\sqrt {2}}$

Therefore, the aspect ratio is preserved for the new dimensions of the folded paper.

Weights are easy to calculate as well: a standard A4 sheet made from 80 g/m² paper weighs 5 g (as it is 1⁄16 of an A0 page, measuring 1 m²), allowing one to easily compute the weight—and associated postage rate—by counting the number of sheets used.

The advantages of basing a paper size upon an aspect ratio of √2 were first noted in 1786 by the German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The formats that became A2, A3, B3, B4 and B5 were developed in France on proposition of the mathematician Lazare Carnot and published for judiciary purpose in 1798 during the French Revolution. Early in the 20th century, Dr Walter Porstmann turned Lichtenberg's idea into a proper system of different paper sizes. Porstmann's system was introduced as a DIN standard (DIN 476) in Germany in 1922, replacing a vast variety of other paper formats. Even today, the paper sizes are called "DIN A4" (IPA: [diːn.ʔaː.fiːɐ̯]) in everyday use in Germany and Austria.

The DIN 476 standard spread quickly to other countries. Before the outbreak of World War II, it had been adopted by the following countries:

• Belgium (1924)
• Netherlands (1925)
• Norway (1926)

• Finland (1927)
• Switzerland (1929)
• Sweden (1930)

• Soviet Union (1934)
• Hungary (1938)
• Italy (1939)

During World War II, the standard was adopted by Uruguay (1942), Argentina (1943) and Brazil (1943), and afterwards spread to other countries:

• Spain (1947)
• Austria (1948)
• Iran (1948)
• Romania (1949)
• Japan (1951)
• Denmark (1953)
• Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia) (1953)
• Israel (1954)
• Portugal (1954)
• Yugoslavia (now Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia) (1956)
• India (1957)
• Poland (1957)
• United Kingdom (1959)
• Ireland (1959)
• Venezuela (1962)
• New Zealand (1963)
• Iceland (1964)
• Mexico (1965)
• South Africa (1966)
• France (1967)
• Peru (1967)
• Turkey (1967)
• Chile (1968)
• Greece (1970)
• Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) (1970)
• Singapore (1970)
• Bangladesh (1972)
• Thailand (1973)
• Barbados (1973)
• Australia (1974)
• Ecuador (1974)
• Colombia (1975)
• Kuwait (1975)

By 1975, so many countries were using the German system that it was established as an ISO standard, as well as the official United Nations document format. By 1977, A4 was the standard letter format in 88 of 148 countries. Today the standard has been adopted by all countries in the world except the United States and Canada. In Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and the Philippines, the US letter format is still in common use, despite their official adoption of the ISO standard.

B series

A size chart illustrating the ISO B series.

The B series paper sizes are less common than the A series. They have the same aspect ratio of A series:

${\frac {a}{b}}={\sqrt {2}}=1.41...$

However, they have a different area. The area of B series sheets is in fact the geometric mean of successive A series sheets. B1 is between A0 and A1 in size, with an area of 0.707 m² (1⁄√2 m²). As a result, B0 is 1 metre wide, and other sizes of the series are a half, a quarter or further fractions of a metre wide: in general, every B size has one of its sides 1⁄power of two meters long. That side is the short side for B0, B2, B4, etc and the long side for B1, B3, B5, etc.

While less common in office use, the B series is used for a variety of special applications.

• Many posters use B-series paper or a close approximation, such as 50 cm × 70 cm ~ B2.
• B5 is a relatively common choice for books.
• B7 is equal to the passport size ID-3 from ISO/IEC 7810.
• B4, B5 and B6 are used for envelopes that fit C-series envelopes.

The B-series is widely used in the printing industry to describe both paper sizes and printing press sizes, including digital presses. B3 paper is used to print two US letter or A4 pages side by side using imposition; four pages would be printed on B2, eight on B1, etc.

C series

A size chart illustrating the ISO C series.

The C series is defined in ISO 269, which was withdrawn in 2009 without a replacement, but is still specified in several national standards. It is primarily used for envelopes. The area of C series sheets is the geometric mean of the areas of the A and B series sheets of the same number; for instance, the area of a C4 sheet is the geometric mean of the areas of an A4 sheet and a B4 sheet. This means that C4 is slightly larger than A4, and slightly smaller than B4. The practical usage of this is that a letter written on A4 paper fits inside a C4 envelope, and both A4 and C4 paper fits inside a B4 envelope.

Some envelope formats with mixed sides from adjacent sizes (and thus an approximate aspect ratio of 2:1) are also defined in national adaptations of the ISO standard, e.g. DIN C6/C5 is 114 mm × 229 mm where the common side to C5 and C6 is 162 mm.

Overview of ISO paper sizes

ISO paper sizes in portrait view (with rounded inch values)

Format	A series		B series		C series
Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch
0	841 × 1189	33+1⁄8 × 46+19⁄24	1000 × 1414	39+3⁄8 × 55+2⁄3	917 × 1297	36+1⁄12 × 51+1⁄12
1	594 × 841	23+3⁄8 × 33+1⁄8	707 × 1000	27+5⁄6 × 39+3⁄8	648 × 917	25+1⁄2 × 36+1⁄12
2	420 × 594	16+13⁄24 × 23+3⁄8	500 × 707	19+2⁄3 × 27+5⁄6	458 × 648	18+1⁄24 × 25+1⁄2
3	297 × 420	11+17⁄24 × 16+13⁄24	353 × 500	13+11⁄12 × 19+2⁄3	324 × 458	12+3⁄4 × 18+1⁄24
4	210 × 297	8+1⁄4 × 11+17⁄24	250 × 353	9+5⁄6 × 13+11⁄12	229 × 324	9 × 12+3⁄4
5	148 × 210	5+5⁄6 × 8+1⁄4	176 × 250	6+11⁄12 × 9+5⁄6	162 × 229	6+3⁄8 × 9
6	105 × 148	4+1⁄8 × 5+5⁄6	125 × 176	4+11⁄12 × 6+11⁄12	114 × 162	4+1⁄2 × 6+3⁄8
7	74 × 105	2+11⁄12 × 4+1⁄8	88 × 125	3+11⁄24 × 4+11⁄12	81 × 114	3+5⁄24 × 4+1⁄2
8	52 × 74	2+1⁄24 × 2+11⁄12	62 × 88	2+11⁄24 × 3+11⁄24	57 × 81	2+1⁄4 × 3+5⁄24
9	37 × 52	1+11⁄24 × 2+1⁄24	44 × 62	1+3⁄4 × 2+11⁄24	40 × 57	1+7⁄12 × 2+1⁄4
10	26 × 37	1+1⁄24 × 1+11⁄24	31 × 44	1+5⁄24 × 1+3⁄4	28 × 40	1+1⁄12 × 1+7⁄12
i	$\left(\alpha _{A}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i+1}{2}}}\right)\times \left(\alpha _{A}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i}{2}}}\right),$ $\alpha _{A}=1000\,{\text{mm}}\cdot {\sqrt[{4}]{2}}=2^{0.25}\,{\text{m}}$		$\left(\alpha _{B}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i+1}{2}}}\right)\times \left(\alpha _{B}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i}{2}}}\right),$ $\alpha _{B}=1000\,{\text{mm}}\cdot {\sqrt {2}}=2^{0.5}\,{\text{m}}$		$\left(\alpha _{C}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i+1}{2}}}\right)\times \left(\alpha _{C}\cdot 2^{-{\frac {i}{2}}}\right),$ $\alpha _{C}=1000\,{\text{mm}}\cdot {\sqrt[{8}]{8}}=2^{0.375}\,{\text{m}}$

The α variables are the distinct first terms in the three geometric progressions of the same common-ratio equal to the square root of two. Each of the three geometric progressions (corresponding to the three series A, B, C) is formed by all possible paper dimensions (length and width) of the series arranged in a decreasing order. This interesting arrangement of dimensions is also very useful - not only it forms a geometric progression with easy to remember formulae, it also has that each consecutive pair of values (like a sliding window of size 2) will automatically correspond to the dimensions of a standard paper format in the series.

The tolerances specified in the standard are

• ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
• ±2 mm (0.08 in) for lengths in the range 150 to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
• ±3 mm (0.12 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

German original

The German standard DIN 476 was published on 18 August 1922 and is the original specification of the A, B and C sizes. In 1991, it was split into DIN 476-1 for the A and B formats and 476-2 for the C series. The former has been withdrawn in 2002 in favor of adopting the international standard as DIN EN ISO 216, but part 2 has been retained and was last updated in 2008.

The first and the second editions of DIN 476 from 1922 and 1925 also included a D series.

DIN D series paper sizes in portrait view (with rounded inch values)

Format	D series
Size	mm × mm	inch × inch
0	771 × 1090	30+3⁄8 × 42+11⁄12
1	545 × 771	21+11⁄24 × 30+3⁄8
2	385 × 545	15+1⁄6 × 21+11⁄24
3	272 × 385	10+17⁄24 × 15+1⁄6
4	192 × 272	7+13⁄24 × 10+17⁄24
5	136 × 192	5+3⁄8 × 7+13⁄24
6	96 × 136	3+19⁄24 × 5+3⁄8
7	68 × 96	2+2⁄3 × 3+19⁄24
8	48 × 68	1+7⁄8 × 2+2⁄3

The smallest formats specified originally were A13 and B13, which were reduced to x10 in the 1930 edition, as well as C8 and D8; C9 and C10 have been added in the 1976 revision for compatibility with photography sizes: C8 closely matches 6×9 photos, C9 and C10 closely match 7×7 and 5×5 slides, respectively.

DIN 476:1922 tiny formats (with rounded inch values)

Format	A		B
Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch
11	18 × 26	17⁄24 × 1+1⁄24	22 × 31	7⁄8 × 1+5⁄24
12	13 × 18	1⁄2 × 17⁄24	15 × 22	7⁄12 × 7⁄8
13	9 × 13	3⁄8 × 1⁄2	11 × 15	5⁄12 × 7⁄12

DIN 476 provides for formats larger than A0, denoted by a prefix factor. In particular, it lists the formats 2A0 and 4A0, which are twice and four times the size of A0 respectively. However, ISO 216:2007 notes 2A0 and 4A0 in the table of Main series of trimmed sizes (ISO A series) as well: "The rarely used sizes [2A0 and 4A0] which follow also belong to this series."

DIN 476 overformats (with rounded inch values)

Name	mm × mm	inch × inch
4A0	1682 × 2378	66+5⁄24 × 93+5⁄8
2A0	1189 × 1682	46+19⁄24 × 66+5⁄24

DIN 476 also used to specify slightly tighter tolerances than ISO 216:

• ±1 mm (0.04 in) for dimensions up to 150 mm (5.9 in),
• ±1.5 mm (0.06 in) for lengths in the range 150 mm to 600 mm (5.9 to 23.6 in) and
• ±2 mm (0.08 in) for any dimension above 600 mm (23.6 in).

Swedish extensions

Comparison of ISO 216 and Swedish standard SIS 014711 paper sizes between A4 and A3 sizes.

The Swedish standard SIS 01 47 11 generalized the ISO system of A, B, and C formats by adding D, E, F, and G formats to it. Its D format sits between a B format and the next larger A format (just like C sits between A and the next larger B). The remaining formats fit in between all these formats, such that the sequence of formats A4, E4, C4, G4, B4, F4, D4, *H4, A3 is a geometric progression, in which the dimensions grow by a factor ¹⁶√2 from one size to the next. However, this SIS standard does not define any size between a D format and the next larger A format (called *H in the previous example).

Of these additional formats, G5 (169 × 239 mm) and E5 (155 × 220 mm) are popular in Sweden and the Netherlands for printing dissertations, but the other formats have not turned out to be particularly useful in practice. They have not been adopted internationally and the Swedish standard has been withdrawn.

The Swedish and German D series basically contain the same sizes, but are offset by one, i.e. DIN D4 equals SIS D5 and so on.

SIS 014711 formulas, including the missing step, series *H, between D and A,
n = 0‥10, r = ¹⁶√2, s = √½

Designation	Shorter edge	Longer edge
An	r−4 × sn	r+4 × sn
En	r−3 × sn	r+5 × sn
Cn	r−2 × sn	r+6 × sn
Gn	r−1 × sn	r+7 × sn
Bn	r 0 × sn	r+8 × sn
Fn	r+1 × sn	r+9 × sn
Dn	r+2 × sn	r+10 × sn
*Hn	r+3 × sn	r+11 × sn
A(n+1)	r+4 × sn	r+12 × sn

Swedish D through G series

n	A	E	C	G	B	F	D	*H
0	841 × 1189	878 × 1242	917 × 1297	958 × 1354	1000 × 1414	1044 × 1477	1091 × 1542	1139 × 1610
1	595 × 841	621 × 878	648 × 917	677 × 958	707 × 1000	738 × 1044	771 × 1091	805 × 1139
2	420 × 595	439 × 621	459 × 648	479 × 677	500 × 707	522 × 738	545 × 771	569 × 805
3	297 × 420	310 × 439	324 × 459	339 × 479	354 × 500	369 × 522	386 × 545	403 × 569
4	210 × 297	220 × 310	229 × 324	239 × 339	250 × 354	261 × 369	273 × 386	285 × 403
5	149 × 210	155 × 220	162 × 229	169 × 239	177 × 250	185 × 261	193 × 273	201 × 285
6	105 × 149	110 × 155	115 × 162	120 × 169	125 × 177	131 × 185	136 × 193	142 × 201
7	74 × 105	78 × 110	81 × 115	85 × 120	88 × 125	92 × 131	96 × 136	101 × 142
8	53 × 74	55 × 78	57 × 81	60 × 85	63 × 88	65 × 92	68 × 96	71 × 101
9	37 × 53	39 × 55	41 × 57	42 × 60	44 × 63	46 × 65	48 × 68	50 × 71
10	26 × 37	27 × 39	29 × 41	30 × 42	31 × 44	33 × 46	34 × 48	36 × 50

Japanese variation

The Japanese standard JIS P 0138 defines two main series of paper sizes. The JIS A-series is identical to the ISO A-series, but with slightly different tolerances. The area of B-series paper is 1.5 times that of the corresponding A-paper (instead of the factor √2 = 1.414... for the ISO B-series), so the length ratio is approximately 1.22 times the length of the corresponding A-series paper. The aspect ratio of the paper is the same as for A-series paper. Both A- and B-series paper is widely available in Japan, Taiwan and China, and most photocopiers are loaded with at least A4 and either one of A3, B4 and B5 paper.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) only supports the most popular sizes, JIS-B4 and JIS-B5.

JIS B series paper sizes (plus rounded inch values)

Size	mm × mm	inch × inch
0	1030 × 1456	40+13⁄24 × 57+1⁄3
1	728 × 1030	28+2⁄3 × 40+13⁄24
2	515 × 728	20+7⁄24 × 28+2⁄3
3	364 × 515	14+1⁄3 × 20+7⁄24
4	257 × 364	10+1⁄8 × 14+1⁄3
5	182 × 257	7+1⁄6 × 10+1⁄8
6	128 × 182	5+1⁄24 × 7+1⁄6
7	91 × 128	3+7⁄12 × 5+1⁄24
8	64 × 91	2+1⁄2 × 3+7⁄12
9	45 × 64	1+19⁄24 × 2+1⁄2
10	32 × 45	1+1⁄4 × 1+19⁄24
11	22 × 32	7⁄8 × 1+1⁄4
12	16 × 22	5⁄8 × 7⁄8

JIS P 0202 raw sizes (plus rounded inch values)

Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
A	625 × 880	24+5⁄8 × 34+5⁄8	√2∶1
B	765 × 1085	30+1⁄8 × 42+17⁄24	√2∶1
Shiroku-ban (4-6)	788 × 1091	31+1⁄24 × 42+23⁄24	1.38
Kiku-ban (Chrysanthenum)	636 × 939	25+1⁄24 × 36+23⁄24	1.48
	900 × 1200	35+5⁄12 × 47+1⁄4	4∶3

A popular size for books, dubbed AB, combines the shorter edges of A4 and B4. Another two with an aspect ratio approximating 16:9 are 20% narrower variants of A6 and B6, respectively, the latter resulting from cutting B1 into 4 × 10 sheets (thus "B40").

There are also a number of traditional paper sizes, which are now used mostly by printers. The most common of these old series are the Shiroku-ban and the Kiku paper sizes.

Other Japanese paper sizes (plus rounded inch values)

Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
AB	210 × 257	8+1⁄4 × 10+1⁄8	11∶9
B40	103 × 182	4+1⁄24 × 7+1⁄6	16∶9
35	84 × 148	3+7⁄24 × 5+5⁄6	1.76
Shiroku-ban	264 × 379	10+3⁄8 × 14+11⁄12	13∶9
	189 × 262	7+11⁄24 × 10+1⁄3	1.39
	127 × 188	5 × 7+5⁄12	1.48
Kiku-ban	227 × 304	8+11⁄12 × 11+23⁄24	1.34
	218 × 304	8+7⁄12 × 11+23⁄24	1.39
	152 × 227	6 × 8+11⁄12	1.49
	152 × 218	6 × 8+7⁄12	10∶7

Chinese extensions

The Chinese standard GB/T 148-1997, which replaced GB 148-1989, documents the standard ISO series, A and B, but adds a custom D series. This Chinese format originates from the Republic of China (1912–1949). The D series is not identical to the Swedish D series. It does not strictly follow the same principles as ISO paper sizes: The aspect ratio is only very roughly √2. The short side of a size is always 4 mm longer than the long side of the next smaller size. The long side of a size is always exactly – i.e. without further rounding – twice as long as the short side of the next smaller size.

SAC paper sizes (with rounded inch values and raw sizes)

Format	D series		AR	Alias	Untrimmed sizes
Size	mm × mm	inch × inch			mm × mm	inch × inch
0	764 × 1064	30+1⁄12 × 41+7⁄8	1.3927	1K	780 × 1080	30+17⁄24 × 42+1⁄2
1	532 × 760	20+23⁄24 × 29+11⁄12	1.4286	2K	540 × 780	21+1⁄4 × 30+17⁄24
2	380 × 528	14+23⁄24 × 20+19⁄24	1.3895	4K	390 × 540	15+3⁄8 × 21+1⁄4
3	264 × 376	10+3⁄8 × 14+19⁄24	1.4242	8K	270 × 390	10+5⁄8 × 15+3⁄8
4	188 × 260	7+5⁄12 × 10+1⁄4	1.3830	16K	195 × 270	7+2⁄3 × 10+5⁄8
5	130 × 184	5+1⁄8 × 7+1⁄4	1.4154	32K	135 × 195	5+1⁄3 × 7+2⁄3
6	92 × 126	3+5⁄8 × 4+23⁄24	1.3696	64K	97 × 135	3+5⁄6 × 5+1⁄3

Soviet variants

The first standard of paper size in the Soviet Union was OST 303 in 1926. Six years later, it was replaced by OST 5115 which generally followed DIN 476 principles, but used Cyrillic lowercase letters instead of Latin uppercase, had the second row shifted so that б₀ (B0) roughly corresponded to B1 and, more importantly, had slightly different sizes:

OST 5115 formats (1932)

Format	а (A)		б (B)		в (V, C)
Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch
0	814 × 1152	32+1⁄24 × 45+3⁄8	747 × 1056	29+5⁄12 × 41+7⁄12
1	576 × 814	22+2⁄3 × 32+1⁄24	528 × 747	20+19⁄24 × 29+5⁄12	628 × 888	24+17⁄24 × 34+23⁄24
2	407 × 576	16+1⁄24 × 22+2⁄3	373 × 528	14+2⁄3 × 20+19⁄24	444 × 628	17+1⁄2 × 24+17⁄24
3	288 × 407	11+1⁄3 × 16+1⁄24	264 × 373	10+3⁄8 × 14+2⁄3	314 × 444	12+3⁄8 × 17+1⁄2
4	203 × 288	8 × 11+1⁄3	186 × 264	7+1⁄3 × 10+3⁄8	222 × 314	8+3⁄4 × 12+3⁄8
5	144 × 203	5+2⁄3 × 8	132 × 186	5+5⁄24 × 7+1⁄3	157 × 222	6+1⁄6 × 8+3⁄4
6	101 × 144	3+23⁄24 × 5+2⁄3	93 × 132	3+2⁄3 × 5+5⁄24	111 × 157	4+3⁄8 × 6+1⁄6
7	72 × 101	2+5⁄6 × 3+23⁄24	66 × 93	2+7⁄12 × 3+2⁄3	78 × 111	3+1⁄12 × 4+3⁄8
8	50 × 72	1+23⁄24 × 2+5⁄6	46 × 66	1+19⁄24 × 2+7⁄12	55 × 78	2+1⁄6 × 3+1⁄12
9	36 × 50	1+5⁄12 × 1+23⁄24	33 × 46	1+7⁄24 × 1+19⁄24	39 × 55	1+13⁄24 × 2+1⁄6
10	25 × 36	1 × 1+5⁄12	23 × 33	11⁄12 × 1+7⁄24
11	18 × 25	17⁄24 × 1	16 × 23	5⁄8 × 11⁄12
12	12 × 18	11⁄24 × 17⁄24	11 × 16	5⁄12 × 5⁄8
13	9 × 12	3⁄8 × 11⁄24

The general adaptation of ISO 216 in the Soviet Union, which replaced OST 5115, was GOST 9327. In its 1960 version, it lists formats down to A13, B12 and C8 and also specifies ½, ¼ and ⅛ prefixes for halving the shorter side (repeatedly) for stripe formats, e.g. ½A4 = 105 mm × 297 mm.

A1, A2, A3, A4 and non-ISO sizes as GOST 3450-60 formats

A standard for technical drawings from 1960, GOST 3450, introduces alternative numeric format designations to deal with very high or very wide sheets. These 2-digit codes are based upon A4 = "11": The first digit is the factor the longer side (297 mm) is multiplied by and the second digit is the one for the shorter side (210 mm), so "24" is 2×297 mm × 4×210 mm = 594 mm × 840 mm.

Soviet formats with multiplied shorter side (mm×mm)

n	(×1)	×2	×3	×4	×5	×6
A0	841×1189	1682×1189	2523×1189	3364×1189	4204×1189	5045×1189
A1	594×841	= A0	1784×841	2378×841	2973×841	3568×841
A2	420×594	= A1	1261×595	1682×595	2102×595	2523×595
A3	297×420	= A2	892×420	1189×420	1487×420	1784×420
A4	210×297	= A3	631×297	841×297	1051×297	1261×297
A5	148×210	= A4	446×210	595×210	743×210	892×210

A2, A3, A4 and some of their derived non-ISO sizes as GOST 2301-68 formats

GOST 3450 from 1960 was replaced by ESKD GOST 2301 in 1968, but the numeric designations remained in popular use much longer. The new designations were not purely numeric, but consisted of the ISO label followed by an 'x', or possibly the multiplication sign '×', and the factor, e.g. DIN 2A0 = GOST A0×2, but DIN 4A0 ≠ GOST A0×4, also listed are: A0×3, A1×3, A1×4, A2×3–A2×5, A3×3–A3×7, A4×3–A4×9. The formats ...×1 and ...×2 usually would be aliases for existing formats.

International envelope and insert sizes

Main article: Envelope § Sizes

Common folded or cut sizes of ISO paper: stripe formats and inserts

Name	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR	Notes
1⁄3A4	99 × 210	3+11⁄12 × 8+1⁄4	3∶√2	common flyer or stripe size
unnamed	105 × 210	4+1⁄8 × 8+1⁄4	2∶1	standard folded size of German letters

DIN 5008 Form A

DIN 5008 (previously DIN 676) prescribes, among many other things, two variants, A and B, for the location of the address field on the first page of a business letter and how to fold the A4 sheet accordingly, so the only part visible of the main content is the subject line.

Common envelopes for ISO paper, that are not simple C-series and B-series formats

Name	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR	Content	Notes
DL	110 × 220	4+1⁄3 × 8+2⁄3	2∶1	1⁄3A4, DIN 5008 A and B	designated long, "DIN lang" (DIN long); sometimes erroneously called "DLE", apparently for envelope, instead
C6/C5	114 × 229	4+1⁄2 × 9	2∶1		common edge of C6 and C5 is 161 mm; sometimes called "Postfix", "DL+" or "DL Max", but those terms are not standardized
Italian	110 × 230	4+1⁄3 × 9+1⁄24	2.10∶1
C7/C6	81 × 162	3+5⁄24 × 6+3⁄8	2∶1	1⁄3A5	common edge of C7 and C6 is 114 mm
B6/C4	125 × 324	4+11⁄12 × 12+3⁄4	2.6		B6 is 125 mm × 176 mm, C4 is 229 mm × 324 mm
Invite	220 × 220	8+2⁄3 × 8+2⁄3	1∶1	square card with edge of A4 and A5, 210 mm
DIN E4	240 × 400	9+11⁄24 × 15+3⁄4	5∶3		listed in DIN 476-2, but not part of a series proper

International raw sizes

ISO 217 raw and ISO 5457 untrimmed sheet sizes

raw	mm × mm	inch × inch	special raw	mm × mm	inch × inch	untrimmed	mm × mm	inch × inch	trimmed	mm × mm	inch × inch	mm × mm	inch × inch
RA0	860 × 1220	33+3⁄4 × 48	SRA0	900 × 1280	35+1⁄2 × 50+1⁄2	A0U	880 × 1230	34+3⁄4 × 48+1⁄2	A0T	841 × 1189	33 × 46+3⁄4	821 × 1159	32+1⁄4 × 45+3⁄4
RA1	610 × 860	24 × 33+3⁄4	SRA1	640 × 900	25+1⁄4 × 35+1⁄2	A1U	625 × 880	24+1⁄2 × 34+3⁄4	A1T	594 × 841	23+1⁄2 × 33	574 × 811	22+1⁄2 × 32
RA2	430 × 610	17 × 24	SRA2	450 × 640	17+3⁄4 × 25+1⁄4	A2U	450 × 625	17+3⁄4 × 24+1⁄2	A2T	420 × 594	16+1⁄2 × 23+1⁄2	400 × 564	15+3⁄4 × 22+1⁄4
RA3	305 × 430	12 × 17	SRA3	320 × 450	12+1⁄2 × 17+3⁄4	A3U	330 × 450	13 × 17+3⁄4	A3T	297 × 420	11+3⁄4 × 16+1⁄2	277 × 390	11 × 15+1⁄4
RA4	215 × 305	8+1⁄2 × 12	SRA4	225 × 320	8+3⁄4 × 12+1⁄2	A4U	240 × 330	9+1⁄2 × 13	A4T	210 × 297	8+1⁄4 × 11+3⁄4	180 × 277	7 × 11

ISO 5457 specifies drawing paper sizes with a trimmed size equal to the A series sizes from A4 upward. The untrimmed sizes are 3 to 4 cm larger and rounded to the nearest centimeter. A0 through A3 are used in landscape orientation, while A4 is used in portrait orientation. Designations for preprinted drawing paper include the base sizes and a suffix, either T for trimmed or U for untrimmed sheets.

The withdrawn standard ISO 2784 did specify sizes of continuous, fan-fold forms based upon whole inches as was common for paper in continuous lengths in automatic data processing (ADP) equipment. Specifically, 12 inches (304.8 mm) were considered an untrimmed variant of the A4 height of 297 mm.

ISO 2784:1974 correspondence for continuous ADP paper

Size	Acceptable equivalent			Direct equivalent			Exact size	Gross size
	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR	mm × mm	mm × mm	inch × inch
A4	8 × 12	203.2 × 304.8	3∶2	8+1⁄3 × 11+2⁄3	211.7 × 296.3	7∶5	210 × 297	250 × 340	9+4⁄5 × 13+2⁄5
A5	6 × 8	152.4 × 203.2	4∶3	5+5⁄6 × 8+1⁄3	148.2 × 211.7	10∶7	148 × 210	180 × 250	7+1⁄10 × 9+4⁄5
A6	4 × 6	101.6 × 152.4	3∶2	4+1⁄6 × 5+5⁄6	105.8 × 148.2	7∶5	105 × 148	—	—
A7	3 × 4	76.20 × 101.6	4∶3	—	—	—	74 × 105	—	—

Transitional paper sizes

PA4 or L4

Hypothetic PA4-based series

Name	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
PA0	840 × 1120	33+1⁄8 × 44+1⁄8	4∶3
PA1	560 × 840	22 × 33+1⁄8	3∶2
PA2	420 × 560	16+1⁄2 × 22	4∶3
PA3	280 × 420	11 × 16+1⁄2	3∶2
PA4	210 × 280	8+1⁄4 × 11	4∶3
PA5	140 × 210	5+1⁄2 × 8+1⁄4	3∶2
PA6	105 × 140	4+1⁄8 × 5+1⁄2	4∶3
PA7	70 × 105	2+3⁄4 × 4+1⁄8	3∶2
PA8	52 × 70	2 × 2+3⁄4	1.35
PA9	35 × 52	1+3⁄8 × 2	1.49
PA10	26 × 35	1 × 1+3⁄8	1.35

A transitional size called PA4 (210 mm × 280 mm or 8.27 in × 11.02 in), sometimes dubbed L4, was proposed for inclusion into the ISO 216 standard in 1975. It has the height of Canadian P4 paper (215 mm × 280 mm, about 8+1⁄2 in × 11 in) and the width of international A4 paper (210 mm × 297 mm or 8.27 in × 11.69 in), i.e. it uses the smaller value among the two for each side. The table shows how this format can be generalized into an entire format series.

The PA formats did not end up in ISO 216, because the committee decided that the set of standardized paper formats should be kept to the minimum necessary. However, PA4 remains of practical use today. In landscape orientation, it has the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the displays of traditional TV sets, some computer displays (e.g. iPad) and data projectors. PA4, with appropriate margins, is therefore a good choice as the format of presentation slides.

As a compromise between the two most popular paper sizes globally, PA4 is used today by many international magazines, because it can be printed easily on equipment designed for either A4 or US Letter. That means it is not as much a paper size than a page format. Apple, for instance, requires this format for digital music album booklets.

The size 210 mm × 280 mm was documented in the Canadian standard CAN2-200.2-M79 "Common Image Area for Paper Sizes P4 and A4".

F4

See also: Foolscap folio § F4

Hypothetic F4-based series

Name	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
F0	841 × 1321	33+1⁄8 × 52	1.57
F1	660 × 841	26 × 33+1⁄8	1.27
F2	420 × 660	16+1⁄2 × 26	1.57
F3	330 × 420	13 × 16+1⁄2	1.27
F4	210 × 330	8+1⁄4 × 13	1.57
F5	165 × 210	6+1⁄2 × 8+1⁄4	1.27
F6	105 × 165	4+1⁄8 × 6+1⁄2	1.57
F7	82 × 105	3+1⁄4 × 4+1⁄8	32∶25
F8	52 × 82	2 × 3+1⁄4	1.58
F9	41 × 52	1+5⁄8 × 2	1.27
F10	26 × 41	1 × 1+5⁄8	1.58

A non-standard F4 paper size is common in Southeast Asia. It is a transitional size with the shorter side from ISO A4 (210 mm, 8+1⁄4 inch) and the longer side from British Foolscap (13 inch, 330 mm) and is sometimes known as (metric) foolscap or folio as well. It is exactly 1⁄9, i.e. 33 mm, longer than A4 or, conversely, A4 is exactly 90% the height of F4.

In Indonesia and the Philippines, "F4" paper is slightly broader: 215 × 330 mm, i.e. basically Foolscap 8.5 × 13 in. In Indonesia it is sometimes called folio, while in Philippines it is sometimes also called long bond.

A sheet of F4 can be cut from a sheet of SRA4 with very little wastage. The size is also smaller than its Swedish equivalent SIS F4 at 239 mm × 338 mm.

A0a

Although the movement is towards the international standard metric paper sizes, on the way there from the traditional ones there has been at least one new size just a little larger than that used internationally.

British architects and industrial designers once used a size called "Antiquarian", 31 in × 53 in (787 mm × 1,346 mm), as listed above, but given in the New Metric Handbook (Tutt & Adler 1981) as 813 mm × 1,372 mm (32 in × 54 in) for board size. This is a little larger than ISO A0, 841 mm × 1189 mm. So for a short time, a size called A0a of 1,000 mm × 1,370 mm (39.4 in × 53.9 in) was used in Britain, which is actually just a slightly shorter version of ISO B0 at 1414 mm.

Pliego

Colombian metric paper sizes

Size	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
Pliego	700 × 1000	27+1⁄2 × 39+1⁄4	10∶7
1⁄2 pliego	500 × 700	19+3⁄4 × 27+1⁄2	7∶5
1⁄4 pliego	350 × 500	13+3⁄4 × 19+3⁄4	10∶7
1⁄8 pliego	250 × 350	9+3⁄4 × 13+3⁄4	7∶5

The most common paper sizes used for commercial and industrial printing in Colombia are based upon a size referred to as pliego that is ISO B1 (707 mm × 1000 mm) cut to full decimetres. Smaller sizes are derived by halving as usual and just get a vulgar fraction prefix: 1⁄2 pliego and 1⁄4 pliego.

North American paper sizes

Inch-based loose sizes

American loose paper sizes

Size	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
Ledger	17 × 11	432 × 279	0.65
Tabloid Extra, Extra Tabloide	12 × 18	305 × 457	3∶2
European EDP	12 × 14	305 × 356	1.17
Tabloid, Doble Carta	11 × 17	279 × 432	1.55
11 × 15	11 × 15	279 × 381	1.36
Fanfold	11 × 14+7⁄8	279 × 378	1.35
EDP	11 × 14	279 × 356	1.27
11 × 12	11 × 12	279 × 305	12∶11
10 × 14	10 × 14	254 × 356	7∶5
10 × 13	10 × 13	254 × 330	1.3
10 × 11	10 × 11	254 × 279	11∶10
Legal Extra	9+1⁄2 × 15	241 × 381	1.58
Letter Extra	9+1⁄2 × 12	241 × 305	1.26
Letter Tab, 9 × 11	9 × 11	229 × 279	11∶9
Legal	8+1⁄2 × 14	216 × 356	1.65
Oficio	8+1⁄2 × 13+2⁄5	216 × 340	1.58
Foolscap Folio	8+1⁄2 × 13	216 × 330	1.53
Letter Plus	8+1⁄2 × 12+2⁄3	216 × 322	1.49
European Fanfold	8+1⁄2 × 12	216 × 305	√2∶1
Letter, Carta	8+1⁄2 × 11	216 × 279	1.29
Quarto	8+1⁄2 × 10+5⁄6	216 × 275	1.27
Government Legal	8 × 13	203 × 330	1.63
Demitab	8 × 10+1⁄2	203 × 267	1.31
Government Letter, 8 × 10	8 × 10	203 × 254	5∶4
Executive	7+1⁄4 × 10+1⁄2	184 × 267	1.45
7 × 9	7 × 9	178 × 229	1.29
Memo, Statement, Mini, Invoice, Stationary, Half Letter	5+1⁄2 × 8+1⁄2	140 × 216	1.55
Junior Legal	5 × 8	127 × 203	8∶5
5 × 7	5 × 7	127 × 178	7∶5

The United States, Canada, and the Philippines primarily use a different system of paper sizes from the rest of the world. The current standard sizes are unique to those countries, although due to the size of the North American market and proliferation of both software and printing hardware from the region, other parts of the world have become increasingly familiar with these sizes (though not necessarily the paper itself). Some traditional North American inch-based sizes differ from the Imperial British sizes described below.

Common American loose sizes

Letter, Legal and Ledger/Tabloid are by far the most commonly used of these for everyday activities, and the only ones included in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

The origins of the exact dimensions of Letter size paper are lost in tradition and not well documented. The American Forest and Paper Association argues that the dimension originates from the days of manual paper making, and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms." However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio.

Outside of North America, Letter size may also be known as "American Quarto". If one accepts some trimming, the size is indeed one quarter of the old Imperial paper size known as Demy, 17+1⁄2 in × 22+1⁄2 in (444 mm × 572 mm). Printer manufacturers, however, recognize inch-based Quarto as 10.83 in (275 mm) long.

Usage and adoption

US paper sizes are currently standard in the United States and are the most commonly used formats at least in the Philippines, most of Mesoamerica and Chile. The latter use US Letter, but their Legal size is one inch shorter than its US equivalent.

Mexico and Colombia, for instance, have adopted the ISO standard, but US Letter format is still the system in use throughout the country. It is virtually impossible to encounter ISO standard papers in day-to-day uses, with Carta (Letter), Oficio (Government-Legal) and Doble carta (Ledger/Tabloid) being nearly universal. Printer manufacturers, however, recognize Oficio as 13.4 in (340 mm) long.

In Canada, US paper sizes are a de facto standard. The government, however, also uses ISO paper sizes.

Variant American loose sizes

There is an additional paper size, 8 in × 10+1⁄2 in (200 mm × 270 mm), to which the name Government-Letter was given by the IEEE Printer Working Group (PWG). It was prescribed by Herbert Hoover when he was Secretary of Commerce to be used for US government forms, apparently to enable discounts from the purchase of paper for schools, but more likely due to the standard use of trimming books (after binding) and paper from the standard letter size paper to produce consistency and allow "bleed" printing. In later years, as photocopy machines proliferated, citizens wanted to make photocopies of the forms, but the machines did not generally have this size paper in their bins. Ronald Reagan therefore had the US government switch to regular Letter size, which is both half an inch longer and wider. The former government size is still commonly used in spiral-bound notebooks, for children's writing and the like, a result of trimming from the current Letter dimensions.

By extension of the American standards, the halved Letter size, 5+1⁄2 in × 8+1⁄2 in (140 mm × 220 mm), meets the needs of many applications. It is variably known as Statement, Stationery, Memo, Half Letter, Half A (from ANSI sizes) or simply Half Size. Like the similar-sized ISO A5, it is used for everything from personal letter writing to official aeronautical maps. Organizers, notepads, and diaries also often use this size of paper; thus 3-ring binders are also available in this size. Booklets of this size are created using word processing tools with landscape printing in two columns on letter paper which are then cut or folded into the final size.

Curiously, a foot-long sheet with the common width of Letter and (Government) Legal, i.e. 8+1⁄2 in × 12 in (220 mm × 300 mm), would have an aspect ratio very close to the square root of two as used by international paper sizes and would actually almost exactly match ISO RA4 (215 mm × 305 mm). This size is sometimes known as European Fanfold.

Standardized American paper sizes

A size chart illustrating the ANSI sizes, superimposed on an "ANSI E" sheet.

In 1996, the American National Standards Institute adopted ANSI/ASME Y14.1 which defined a regular series of paper sizes based upon the de facto standard 8+1⁄2 in × 11 in (220 mm × 280 mm) Letter size which it assigned "ANSI A", intended for technical drawings, hence sometimes labeled "Engineering". This series is somewhat similar to the ISO standard in that cutting a sheet in half would produce two sheets of the next smaller size and therefore also includes Ledger/Tabloid as "ANSI B". Unlike the ISO standard, however, the arbitrary base sides forces this series to have two alternating aspect ratios. For example, ANSI A is less elongated than A4, while ANSI B is more elongated than A3.

The Canadian standard CAN2 9.60-M76 and its successor CAN/CGSB 9.60-94 "Paper Sizes for Correspondence" specified paper sizes P1 through P6, which are the ANSI paper sizes rounded to the nearest 5 mm. All custom Canadian paper size standards were withdrawn in 2012 and the respective ISO standards took their places.

With care, documents can be prepared so that the text and images fit on either ANSI or their equivalent ISO sheets at 1:1 reproduction scale.

ANSI and CAN paper sizes

US size	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR	Canadian size (mm × mm)		Similar size (mm × mm)
—				CAN P6	107 × 140	ISO A6	105 × 148
—				CAN P5	140 × 215	ISO A5	148 × 210
ANSI A	8+1⁄2 × 11	216 × 279	1.2941	CAN P4	215 × 280	ISO A4	210 × 297
ANSI B	11 × 17	279 × 432	1.5455	CAN P3	280 × 430	ISO A3	297 × 420
ANSI C	17 × 22	432 × 559	1.2941	CAN P2	430 × 560	ISO A2	420 × 594
ANSI D	22 × 34	559 × 864	1.5455	CAN P1	560 × 860	ISO A1	594 × 841
ANSI E	34 × 44	864 × 1118	1.2941	—		ISO A0	841 × 1187

Other, informal, larger sizes continuing the alphabetic series illustrated above exist, but they are not part of the series per se, because they do not exhibit the same aspect ratios. For example, Engineering F size is 28 in × 40 in or 711 mm × 1,016 mm with ca. 1.4286:1; it is commonly required for NAVFAC drawings, but is generally less commonly used. Engineering G size is 22+1⁄2 in (572 mm) high, but it is a roll format with a variable width up to 90 in (2.3 m) in increments of 8+1⁄2 in (216 mm). Engineering H through N sizes are also roll formats.

Such huge sheets were at one time used for full-scale layouts of aircraft parts, automotive parts, wiring harnesses and the like, but are slowly being phased out, due to widespread use of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Some visual arts fields also continue to use these paper formats for large-scale printouts, such as for displaying digitally painted character renderings at life-size as references for makeup artists and costume designers, or to provide an immersive landscape reference.

Architectural sizes

A size chart illustrating the Architectural sizes.

In addition to the system as listed above, there is a corresponding series of paper sizes used for architectural purposes defined in the same standard, ANSI/ASME Y14.1, which is usually abbreviated "Arch". This series also shares the property that bisecting each size produces two of the size below, with alternating aspect ratios. It may be preferred by North American architects because the aspect ratios (4:3 and 3:2) are ratios of small integers, unlike their ANSI (or ISO) counterparts. Furthermore, the aspect ratio 4:3 matches the traditional aspect ratio for computer displays.

The size Arch E1 has a different aspect ratio because it derives from adding 6 inches to each side of Arch D or subtracting the same amount from Arch E. Printer manufacturer recognize it as wide format. An intermediate size between Arch C and D with a long side of 30 inches (760 mm) does not exist.

US architectural standard paper sizes

Names		inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
Arch A	Arch 1	9 × 12	229 × 305	4∶3
Arch B	Arch 2	12 × 18	305 × 457	3∶2
Arch C	Arch 3	18 × 24	457 × 610	4∶3
Arch D	Arch 4	24 × 36	610 × 914	3∶2
Arch E1	Arch 5	30 × 42	762 × 1070	7∶5
Arch E2		26 × 38	660 × 965	1.46
Arch E3		27 × 39	686 × 991	13∶9
Arch E	Arch 6	36 × 48	914 × 1220	4∶3

Notebook sizes

The sizes listed above are for paper sold loose in reams. There are many sizes of tablets of paper, that is, sheets of paper bound at one edge, usually by a strip of plastic or hardened PVA adhesive. Often there is a pad of cardboard (also known as paperboard or greyboard) at the bottom of the stack. Such a tablet serves as a portable writing surface, and the sheets often have lines printed on them, usually in non-repro blue, to make writing in a line easier. An older means of binding is to have the sheets stapled to the cardboard along the top of the tablet; there is a line of perforated holes across every page just below the top edge from which any page may be torn off. Lastly, a pad of sheets each weakly stuck with adhesive to the sheet below, trademarked as "Post-It" or "Stick-Em" and available in various sizes, serve as a sort of tablet.

"Letter pads" are 8+1⁄2 in × 11 in (220 mm × 280 mm), while the term "legal pad" is often used by laymen to refer to pads of various sizes including those of 8+1⁄2 in × 14 in (220 mm × 360 mm). Stenographers use "steno pads" of 6 in × 9 in (150 mm × 230 mm).

Envelope sizes

US envelopes

Name	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
Personal	3+5⁄8 × 6+1⁄2	92.1 × 165	1.79
Monarch	3+7⁄8 × 7+1⁄2	98.4 × 191	1.94
A2	4+3⁄8 × 5+3⁄4	111 × 146	1.31
#9	3+7⁄8 × 8+7⁄8	98.4 × 225	2.29
#10, Commercial	4+1⁄8 × 9+1⁄2	105 × 241	2.3
#11	4+1⁄2 × 10+3⁄8	114 × 264	2.31
#12	4+3⁄4 × 11	121 × 279	2.32
#14	5 × 11+1⁄2	127 × 292	2.3

US Postal Service size limitations, height × width × thickness

Mail piece	inch × inch × inch	mm × mm × mm
Minimum	3+1⁄2 × 5 × 0.009	88.9 × 127 × 0.229
Postcard maximum	4+1⁄4 × 6 × 0.016	108 × 152 × 0.406
Letter maximum	6+1⁄8 × 11+1⁄2 × 1⁄4	156 × 292 × 6.35
Flat-size maximum	12 × 15 × 3⁄4	305 × 381 × 19.1

This implies that all postcards have an aspect ratio in the range from 20∶17 = 1.18 to 12∶7 = 1.71, but the machinable aspect ratio is further restricted to a minimum of 1.30. The only ISO 216 size in the US post card range is A6. The theoretical maximum aspect ratio for enveloped letters is 23∶7 = 3.29, but is explicitly limited to 2.50.

Personal organizer sizes

US personal organizers

Company	Name	inch × inch	mm × mm	Holes
Filofax	M2	2+1⁄2 × 4	63.5 × 102	3 holes
	Mini	2+5⁄8 × 4+1⁄8	66.7 × 105	5 holes
	Pocket	3+1⁄6 × 4+3⁄4	80.4 × 121	6 holes
	Personal, Slimline	3+3⁄4 × 6+3⁄4	95.2 × 171	6 holes
	A5	(5+13⁄16 × 8+9⁄32	148 × 210	6 holes
	Deskfax (B5)	(6+15⁄16 × 9+27⁄32)	176 × 250	9 holes
	A4	(8+9⁄32 × 11+11⁄16)	210 × 297	4 holes
Franklin Planner	Micro (⅛-Letter)	2+5⁄8 × 4+1⁄4	66.7 × 108
	Pocket	3+1⁄2 × 6	88.9 × 152
	Compact	4+1⁄4 × 6+3⁄4	108 × 171
	Classic (½-Letter)	5+1⁄2 × 8+1⁄2	140 × 216
	Monarch (Letter)	8+1⁄2 × 11	216 × 279
Jeppesen	Aeronautical Chart (½-Letter)	5+1⁄2 × 8+1⁄2	140 × 216	7 holes; FAA: 3 holes at top

Index card sizes

Main article: index card

US index cards

inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
3 × 5	76.2 × 127	5∶3
4 × 6	102 × 152	3∶2
5 × 8	127 × 203	8∶5
6 × 8	152 × 203	4∶3

Photography sizes

Main article: Photo print sizes

US photographic paper sizes

Name	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
2R	2+1⁄2 × 3+1⁄2	63.5 × 88.9	7∶5
-	3 × 5	76.2 × 127	5∶3
LD, DSC	3+1⁄2 × 4+2⁄3	88.9 × 119	4∶3
3R, L	3+1⁄2 × 5	88.9 × 127	10∶7
LW	3+1⁄2 × 5+1⁄4	88.9 × 133	3∶2
KGD	4 × 5+1⁄3	102 × 135	4∶3
4R, KG	4 × 6	102 × 152	3∶2
2LD, DSCW	5 × 6+2⁄3	127 × 169	4∶3
5R, 2L	5 × 7	127 × 178	7∶5
2LW	5 × 7+1⁄2	127 × 191	3∶2
6R	6 × 8	152 × 203	4∶3
8R, 6P	8 × 10	203 × 254	5∶4
S8R, 6PW	8 × 12	203 × 305	3∶2
11R	11 × 14	279 × 356	1.27
A3+, Super B	13 × 19	330 × 483	1.46

Grain

Most industry standards express the direction of the grain last when giving dimensions (that is, 17 × 11 inches is short grain paper and 11 × 17 inches is long grain paper), although alternatively the grain alignment can be explicitly indicated with an underline (11 × 17 is short grain) or the letter "M" for "machine" (11M × 17 is short grain). Grain is important because paper will crack if folded across the grain: for example, if a sheet 17 × 11 inches is to be folded to divide the sheet into two 8.5 × 11 halves, then the grain will be along the 11-inch side. Paper intended to be fed into a machine that will bend the paper around rollers, such as a printing press, photocopier or typewriter, should be fed grain edge first so that the axis of the rollers is along the grain.

Demitab

The demitab or demi-tab (from the French "demi" for half tabloid) is either 5+1⁄2 in × 8+1⁄2 in (140 mm × 216 mm) or 8 in × 10+1⁄2 in (203 mm × 267 mm), i.e. either one quarter or one half of a sheet of 11 in × 17 in (279 mm × 432 mm) tabloid-size paper.

Neither demitab, broadsheet nor tabloid newspapers are necessarily printed on paper measuring exactly its nominal size.

Traditional inch-based paper sizes

Traditional and standardized paper formats still relevant in the US

Traditionally, a number of different sizes were defined for large sheets of paper, and paper sizes were defined by the sheet name and the number of times it had been folded. Thus a full sheet of "royal" paper was 25 × 20 inches, and "royal octavo" was this size folded three times, so as to make eight sheets, and was thus 10 × 6+1⁄4 inches. Royal sizes were used for posters and billboards.

Common divisions and their abbreviations

Name	Abbr.	Folds	Leaves	Pages
Folio	fo, f	1	2	4
Quarto	4to	2	4	8
Sexto, sixmo	6to, 6mo	3	6	12
Octavo	8vo	3	8	16
Duodecimo, twelvemo	12mo	4	12	24
Sextodecimo, sixteenmo	16mo	4	16	32

Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories and some survived in US book printing.

Imperial paper sizes

Name	Variant	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
Emperor	UK	48 × 72	1220 × 1830	1.5
Quad Royal	US	40 × 50	1020 × 1270	1.25
Quad Demy	US	35 × 40	889 × 1020	1.2857
Antiquarian	UK	31 × 53	787 × 1350	1.7097
Grand Eagle	UK	28+3⁄4 × 42	730 × 1070	1.4609
Double Elephant	UK	26+3⁄4 × 40	679 × 1020	1.4984
Atlas	UK	26 × 34	660 × 864	1.3077
Double Royal	US	25 × 40	635 × 1020	1.6
Colombier	UK	23+1⁄2 × 34+1⁄2	597 × 876	1.4681
Double Demy	UK	22+1⁄2 × 35+1⁄2	572 × 902	1.57
	US	22+1⁄2 × 35	572 × 889	1.5
Imperial	UK	22 × 30	559 × 762	1.3636
Double Large Post	UK	21 × 33	533 × 838	1.5713
Elephant	both	23 × 28	584 × 711	1.2174
Princess	UK	22+1⁄2 × 28	572 × 711	1.3023
Cartridge	UK	21 × 26	533 × 660	1.2381
Royal	both	20 × 25	508 × 635	1.25
Sheet, Half Post	UK	19+1⁄2 × 23+1⁄2	495 × 597	1.2051
Double Post	UK	19 × 30+1⁄2	483 × 775	1.6052
Super Royal	UK	19 × 27	483 × 686	1.4203
Broadsheet	US	18 × 24	457 × 610	1.3
Medium	UK	17+1⁄2 × 23	444 × 584	1.2425
	US	18 × 23	457 × 584	1.27
Demy	both	17+1⁄2 × 22+1⁄2	444 × 572	1.2857
Copy Draught	UK	16 × 20	406 × 508	1.25
Large Post	UK	15+1⁄2 × 20	394 × 508	1.2903
	US	16+1⁄2 × 21	419 × 533	1.27
Post	UK	15+1⁄2 × 19+1⁄4	394 × 489	1.2419
	US	15+1⁄2 × 19+1⁄2	394 × 495	1.2581
Crown	both	15 × 20	381 × 508	1.3
Pinched Post	UK	14+3⁄4 × 18+1⁄2	375 × 470	1.2533
Foolscap	UK	13+1⁄2 × 17	343 × 432	1.2593
	US	13 × 18	330 × 457	1.3846
Small Foolscap	UK	13+1⁄4 × 16+1⁄2	337 × 419	1.2453
Brief	UK	13+1⁄2 × 16	343 × 406	1.1852
Pott	UK	12+1⁄2 × 15	317 × 381	1.2
Quarto	US	9 × 11	229 × 279	1.2
Executive, Monarch	US	7+1⁄4 × 10+1⁄2	184 × 267	1.4483

Traditional British paper sizes

These sizes are no longer so widely used, since the UK began using ISO sizes. Many of these sizes were only used for making books (see bookbinding), or for publishing plays (historically, all the published plays of William Shakespeare during his lifetime were printed in Quarto), or for printing story papers and comics, and most types were not offered for ordinary stationery purposes, with the exception of foolscap (which was commonly used in schools and universities).

Previous British writing paper sizes

Name	inch × inch	mm × mm	AR
Foolscap	8 × 13	203 × 330	1.63
Quarto	8 × 10	203 × 254	5∶4
Imperial	7 × 9	178 × 229	1.29
Kings	6+1⁄2 × 8	165 × 203	1.23
Dukes	5+1⁄2 × 7	140 × 178	1.27

Foolscap folio is often referred to simply as "folio" or "foolscap". Similarly, "quarto" is more correctly "copy draught quarto" and "Kings" is an alias for "Foolscap quarto".

Traditional French paper sizes

Before the adoption of the ISO standard system in 1967, France had its own paper size system. Some of these formats are still used today, and they are standardized by the AFNOR. Their names come from the watermarks that the papers were branded with when they were handcrafted, which is still the case for certain art papers. They also generally exist in double versions where the smallest measure is multiplied by two, or in quadruple versions where both measures have been doubled.

AFNOR paper sizes

Name	Format (cm × cm)	Use
Cloche	30 × 40
Pot, écolier	31 × 40
Tellière	34 × 44	old French administration
Couronne écriture	36 × 46
Couronne édition	37 × 47
Roberto	39 × 50	anatomic drawing
Écu	40 × 52
Coquille	44 × 56
Carré	45 × 56
Cavalier	46 × 62
Demi-raisin	32,5 × 50	drawing
Raisin	50 × 65	drawing
Double raisin	65 × 100
Jésus	56 × 76	Atlas des sentiers et chemins vicinaux
Soleil	60 × 80
Colombier affiche	60 × 80
Colombier commercial	63 × 90
Petit Aigle	70 × 94
Grand Aigle	75 × 105	Plans cadastraux primitifs (Napoleonic land registry)
	75 × 106
	75 × 110
Grand Monde	90 × 126
Univers	100 × 130

Business card sizes

Main article: Business card § Dimensions

Common business card sizes

Origin	mm × mm	inch × inch	AR
A8	74 × 52	2+15⁄16 × 2+1⁄16	√2
B8	88 × 62	3+4⁄9 × 2+4⁄9	√2
C8	81 × 57	3+3⁄16 × 2+1⁄4	√2
Iranian	85 × 48	3+1⁄3 × 1+8⁄9	1.771
Western Europe	85 × 55	3+1⁄3 × 2+1⁄6	17∶11
International	86 × 54	3+3⁄8 × 2+1⁄8	27∶17
North America	89 × 51	3+1⁄2 × 2	7∶4
Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America	90 × 50	3+9⁄16 × 2	9∶5
East Asia	90 × 54	3+9⁄16 × 2+1⁄8	5∶3
Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, Oceania	90 × 55	3+9⁄16 × 2+1⁄6	18∶11
Japan	91 × 55	3+7⁄12 × 2+1⁄6	1.654

The international business card has the size of the smallest rectangle containing a credit card rounded to full millimeters, but in Western Europe it is rounded to half centimeters (rounded up in Northern Europe), in Eastern Europe to full centimeters, in North America to half inches. However, credit card size, as defined in ISO/IEC 7810, also specifies rounded corners and thickness.

Newspaper sizes

Main article: Newspaper format

Comparison of some newspaper sizes with metric paper sizes. Approximate nominal dimensions are in millimetres.

Newspapers have a separate set of sizes.

• Compact: AR 1.54
• Berliner: aspect ratio is 1.5
• Rhenish: AR 1.4-1.5
• Tabloid 1.34
• Broadsheet: aspect ratio 1.25

In a recent trend many newspapers have been undergoing what is known as "web cut down", in which the publication is redesigned to print using a narrower (and less expensive) roll of paper. In extreme examples, some broadsheet papers are nearly as narrow as traditional tabloids.

See also

• Book size
• Paper density
• Units of paper quantity – ream, quire etc.
• New Zealand standard for school stationery
• PC LOAD LETTER
• Hole punch – filing holes

Further reading

• International standard ISO 216, Writing paper and certain classes of printed matter—Trimmed sizes—A and B series. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 1975.
• International standard ISO 217: Paper—Untrimmed sizes—Designation and tolerances for primary and supplementary ranges, and indication of machine direction. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 1995.
• Helbig, Max; Hennig, Winfried (1998). DIN-Format A4—Ein Erfolgssystem in Gefahr. Beuth-Kommentare (in German). Berlin: Beuth Verlag. ISBN 3-410-11878-0.
• Dunn, Arthur D. (1972). Notes on the standardization of paper sizes (PDF). Ottawa, Canada.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (54 pages)

External links

• Palme, Jacob (May 1998). Making Postscript and PDF International. IETF. doi:10.17487/RFC2346. RFC 2346. Retrieved 2012-06-22. — Notably: About margin settings for using just the space common to both A4 and US Letter.
• "IEEE-ISTO PWG 5101.1-2013 "PWG Media Standardized Names 2.0"" (PDF).
• Parker, Matt. "Paper Sizes Explained". BBC Number Hub (YouTube video).